Improvement in building-blocks



s. LUKE & D. DAVIS. Building-Block.

No. 212,243. Patented Feb. 11,1879.

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UNITED STATES,

PATENT QFFICE.

SAMUEL LUKE AND DAVID DAVIS, OF GUYAHOGA FALLS, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN BUILDING-BLOCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 212,243, dated February 11, 1879; application filed November 18, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, SAMUEL LUKE and DAVID DAVIS, both of Ouyahoga Falls, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Earthen Building-Blocks, of which the following is a specification:

The invention has especial relation to the class of building material composed of pressed and burned earthenware, commonly called building-blocks but it may be advantageously applied to common brick.

These blocks have ordinarily been constructed hollow, open at top and bottom, the horizontalseotionbeingaparallelogram. Thisform is objectionable, for the reason that, the blocks being laid on edge, there is very slight bearingsurface to be held by cement, while, the ends being at right angles to the face of the wall, they are liable to be pushed inward or outward in the event of the cement becoming weak.

The object of our invention is to provide a block with increased bearing-surface, which shall securely brace and lock the wall.

The invention consists in constructing the block in form of a hollow prism, open at top and bottom, the crosssection whereof is Y- shaped, with a bar across the top, the two arms being out near the top parallel with the stem of the Y, to afford a lateral bearing-sur- -face against the next block when laid in the wall.

The form is fully shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 represents, in perspective, a buildingblock, and Fig. 2 a plan of the blocks when laid in the wall.

As indicated in the drawings, the top and bottom of the Y alternatelyiform the face of the wall, the sides of the brick coinciding and forming a long irregular seam for the cement, while as they stand diagonally to the face of the wall they serve to both brace and lock the same. When laid in the wall the blocks of each course are placed directly above the blocks of the preceding course, with the narrow face of one directly above the broad face of the other.

In applying this invention to brick, it may be found advantageous to make them solid.

YVe claim The herein-described building-block, in form a prism, the cross-section whereof is Y-shaped, the top arms connected, the two arms cut near the top parallel to the stem of the Y, substantially as shown.

SAMUEL LUKE. DAVID DAVIS. In presence of- O. P. HUMPHREY, E. W. STUART. 

